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Sunday, April 24, 2011

first we mocked everything out in the 1/2" black steel... we used two 4 foot pipes for the sides, and a 3 foot pipe for the top and two 18" pipes with a union for the bottom... we changed a few things at this point..

bottom structure... changed to T's instead of elbows... needed to use 3" pipes to support the wood shelf...

then added a 45 degree elbow and plug at the top for a hanging front and back hook...

moved the union and 18" pipes to the bottom to be covered by the wood shelf... *a union must be used because the threading on one side of your pipe will unscrew itself as you tighten the opposite side...

we used two 1"x8" oak for the shelf... joined together underneath...I wanted to use old (free) wood and nothing we had was wide enough and/or long enough...

then sanded down the wood, applied some Linseed oil, and then some furniture polish to darken the markings and scratches... after that measured out the distance between the base pipes to cut out room to slide the wood into place on top of the bottom feet (pipes)... after that just sanded the cuts and burrs and dropped the wood into place.... then we had the final product...

Eli- no worries, first we measured the distance between the two pipes... then on each end of the board at that measured distance we drilled with a 1/2" drill bit, a relief hole to use as the rounded edge where the pipe would sit. Then took a jigsaw and cut straight out from those relief holes to make a U shaped hole on each end.

then the board is simply dropped into place... no screw no nothing, the two poles hold the board in place.

I think the "screwdriver" Eli mentioned is really a spade bit attached to the drill, used to bore the initial hole. At first I thought you just dropped the board down over the vertical pipes, but I like the U-cut idea even better.

This is really cool looking.

How heavy is it the whole thing? I'm curious how stable it would be on carpeting.

Trever- I'd say 25 ish... super light weight, carried it into the condo today with one hand and my bags in the other... should work on carpet as well... I'd lengthen the bottom feet though to be wider, I used 3" pipe out of the T's. i'd maybe step up to 5" on both sides...

Really nice. My wife and are having twins in a few month and what will be their nursery lacks a closet. I had thought about doing something like this, but mounted to the wall. The only reason I haven't yet is that, in my experience, that black pipe is covered in a smelly oil. Did you use something to take that off, or did yours not have that on it? Are you concerned about damaging your coats.

Ryan, thanks for the great inspiration. A note to others who want to try this: don't forget to take into account the extra width that the union will add to the bottom crossbar. Your bottom pieces should be slightly shorter than 18" each if you keep the top bar 36". I found this out the hard way.

Hello Ryan, thanks for sharing this great idea. I actually went out and madde 2 of these racks this weekend. i have to ask though how did you get all the black residue off the pipes ? Currently this is a big problem for me and I am assuming that you were able to strip off all the back residue so this that will not rub off on any of your clothes. I need to find something before I use these rack. Any help would be great, Steve stevep4172@hotmail.com

Great idea and project! I just made one out of 3/4" industrial galvanized pipe, using a solid piece of figured walnut. 3/4" is obviously more expensive, but it give it a lot more oomph. It might be the only thing left standing in an earthquake!

Hello, I love reading through your blog, I wanted to leave a little comment to support you and wish you a good continuation. Wish you best of luck for all your best efforts. clothing racks, slatwall display.

Really cool stuff guys! Had a question I hoped someone could answer - I'm not all that experienced in this field and was wondering how you tracked down your steel piping. Does the local Home Depot do the trick or did you order online somewhere?

I'm thinking aesthetically, I like the look of this one and some of the other links posted here and wasn't sure if I should be searching for a specific manufacturer or style.

Your project is unbelievably awesome! With $71, you were able to come up with something I want to have. To be honest, I have never tried DIY projects but I will give it a shot with this design. I just hope the results will be just as I expect. Thanks a lot for sharing!